A number of years ago, I enrolled in a private pilot course at Hawaii Country Club of the Air.

In the process of learning to fly, I discovered that there are some parallels between the training every pilot needs to fly an airplane safely and the training every Christian needs to effectively live the Christian life.

Part of every pilot's training is learning to fly by the instruments.

So periodically during my weeks of flight training, my instructor would intentionally induce vertigo. He would have me put my head down while he took the controls and turned the plane in unusual directions. Then he would tell me to look up and take the controls. I would be disoriented and feel as though the plane was spinning in circles.

My strong tendency was to trust my feelings instead of the instruments. I had to learn to operate against my feelings in obedience to the instrument panel.

It is absolutely crucial for a pilot to learn to trust the instruments, or he will destroy himself, because when you are flying in bad weather with the clouds obstructing your vision, you can't trust your feelings.

Faith in God operates in the same way. The Bible is to the believer what the instrument panel is to the pilot.

Authentic faith depends upon the Word of God, no matter how strong our feelings may be to the contrary.

Obeying the instruments rather than his feelings, a pilot goes through adverse weather and lands safely at his destination.

Believing the promises of God, a person is taken through difficulties of every shape and size, but he arrives safely!

It would be utterly foolish for a pilot to try to fly by his feelings rather than by his instruments. It is just as foolish for you and me to reject the standards God has given us in his Word and insist that truth is "whatever makes me happy," or "whatever I sincerely believe."

Psalm 1 warns us that if we choose the pathway of disregard for God's Word we will end up reaping the tragic consequences in broken hearts and broken, mixed-up lives.

If we learn to live by faith in God's Word, we will find the ultimate joy and fulfillment we were meant to experience by the One who made us.

The Book of Proverbs reminds us: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12). "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6).